How to make a vacuum tube

[marco] sent in this video (scroll down) showing how to make a vacuum tube by hand. The page and captions are in french, but it’s pretty interesting to watch. A small spot welder, some fairly basic glass working tools and a vacuum generator are required, but the technology is definitely within reach for the dedicated hardware hacker.

That’s really amazing! I think i have all the equipment requiered, so if i got some extra time i will try to do it. But i also have to learn some french i think :P

Atrain:

All you need is a nichrome wire and a transformer with high current and low voltage (i think 5v will be suitable and the current depends of the wire diameter and lenght). Make a pseudo-cut in the glass, place the wire in the “pseudo-cut” and turn it on!

This guy is a real hero. I can’t believe the work and skill he put into this project. From what I got out of the french, it looks like these tubes actually went into a transmitter that he used to make a transmission across the atlantic!

It’s neat that vacuum tubes are actually within the reach of the “common man” – I’d like to see someone build a homemade transistor that can handle any significant power.

If all our high-tech manufacturing is ever lost for some reason, guys like him will keep us talking on the radio. Just awesome.

detailed history of vacuum tubesconstruction of an transceiver using old tubesmaking of a triode and all the necessary equipment for its realizationquick production review with the manufactured triodesthe author

claude paillard as many starts during 50s, with RC model remote. mechanics is one of his favorite hobby (“violon d’ingres”, ingres’s violin), he makes a point of honnor making the engine that will power the boat.

As someone who was actually PLANNING to build a giantNixie by hand myself, I wonder if he used any mercury in these (didn’t see any). In Nixies, a very small amount of mercury was often used along with argon/neon inside, and varying the noble gas along with the amount of mercury changed the intensity of the orange. Look up Penning mixtures on wikipedia.

What metals did he use? I’ve been planning my Uber Nixie to use tantalum wire for ultimate cathode & annode life, but that is a bit overkill…

Lastly, I’d be curious to see the working life for his tubes. The hardest thing to control making a vacuum tube is the metal to glass seal- depending on the type of glass and ESPECIALLY your choice of metal, a good seal can be hard to achieve. Many Nixies have gone bad due to their seal. He’s annealing the glass, I think, in that cannister between steps to reduce strain in the glass (tempering it), and to alieviate compression stress from the heated metal shrinking at a different rate than the glass. Understand, if you just melt glass around a metal wire, it will not make a perfect seal unless you anneal the glass (otherwise it will crack)

This guy makes it look EASY- there is a LOT of small bits you have to know about both glassblowing, metalurgy, and glass-to-metal contraction properties to do something like this properly (researched forever for my Nixie). He has the right equipment and serious skills.

FOR OTHERS wanting to try this- if you get good with glassblowing, you can try this yourself, provided you have a vacuum pump and, for Nixies, a glass cylinder of a noble gas (less than 100$)- just do some research here:

“also, what kind of setup is required for cutting glass with a wire like that?” – atrain

I’ve seen something like that done. Basically, you just get a power supply capable of putting out some amps, and hook up a thick enough wire to it (you could probably pilfer it from a toaster — I think we used piano wire). Wrap the wire around the glass (making sure not to have the two ends touch, which would short circuit your short circuit!) and hit the power. The glass cracks due to thermal expansion. If needed, you can squirt some liquid (like alcohol) around the joint, which will cool off the glass quickly, causing it to break.

Yeah, that was cool, but if I hear the first 60 seconds of “The Man I Love” on piano more than 20 times, I go insane and kill the closest bystander. Good thing the video ended at 17 minutes. That was a close one!

@25: And high-current, low voltage power supplies aren’t actually all that exotic. A soldering gun is one, for example — it’s actually a step-down transformer. The U-shaped piece of metal tubing the tip fits into forms a very thick one-turn secondary winding.

his first article for radio-ref (in 1959) is a bfo for the bc453 “command set” that attract attention for their remarkable selectivity.

he became the editor of “analyses de revues” (analysis of reviews), a column he held several years. he will be also a member of the board of the ref for 3 years.

he publishes, among other things: a linear amplifier equipped with 811, a oscillographic device allowing continuous monitoring of the modulation quality and also of the emitted signal purity, a tv camera equipped with integrated circuits and several ssb (“blu”) equipments including a transistorized transceiver which will be widely used in mobile.

Actualy I think he did use mercury, advance the movie to 15:24 I think thats what he is vaporizing, if im correct that is mercury dripping, I think he is attempting to make Mercury vapor with that machine, probably through decompression, but dont quote me on that one. Im assuming thats how he made the tube following. and why it glows like that. if any one else has specifics please correct me, Im merely commenting on observations.

atrain; my guess the wire used in cutting the larger class tube was nichrome as used in heating elements. Once apon a time there was a kit sold to cut wine and or other bottles to make craft projects. Basically you score the glass, the application of heat creates stress in the glass where it’s scored and it breaks.

M4CGYV3R; here stateside the old “Lejay maual” had instructions on building a spot welder, a reprint of the manual can bu purchasesd from Lindsay books http://www.lindsaybks.com/bks/lejay/index.html, by chance the illustration at the top left is the spot welder. Most of the projects in the lejay manual are quite dated, but can be upgraded to modern times.

then, this is the realization of a 2300 mhz station and after of a 10 ghz equipment whose descriptions appear in radio-ref. these both realizations are crowned (with success) in the field by “france-england premieres” in 1968 and 1969. a superb “cross-band” 2.3-10 ghz qso over a distance of 40 km (24.85 miles) is still in memory of the sacred good times of the signatories!

lover and respectful of the old and venerable components, he revives reception tubes of 20s in making emitting it 3 watts on the band 80 m in telegraphy. qso across europe will be realized … see chapter qrp transmitter.

his reverence for the sir arthur collins’s equipment, lead him to restore a number of collins radios, and especially the 618-t.

to check the measurements, a qso will be realized on january 1, 2005 on 80m in cw between montrouge, 92 and camaret, 29. the tubes are robust and will comme on contacts …

the original purpose, which was to cross the atlantic, was reched by f6bwo who has realize numerous qso on 4 continents.

the work

the work — amply illustrated — is composed of the following chapters:

tubes: history of vacuum tubes, from their emergence in 1906 until the advent of the transistor in 1960qrp transmitter: realization of a transmitter using lamps from before 1925triodes: making of a tm triode and necessary tools (pumps, oven …).photos: some photos of making stepsmr mignet (pdf: 58 pages – 2 mb): original document describing the making of the “3-electrode vacuum tubes” by a pioneer in the twentiesadditions of 6 october 2005 (not reproduced in pdf format)review after one year of made triodes use (published in megahertz magazine #281 – august 2006)

the printable versions of the first four chapters in pdf format are available below:

The video shows what’s it’s now the technology so thanks for the chance to us to enjoy life and technology…
No matter what long’s take to discover all this things you have to create magic =transform in life to every ona in this world…
Thanks SCIENTIFIC & SCIENCE…
:+::BULBO::+: